George W. Bush Publishes Book of His Paintings, and It’s a Bestseller

It has been a couple of years since we’ve heard anything about the burgeoning art career of former president George W. Bush, but he has just published a new book of his paintings, titled Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors. It’s already a best seller.

Since leaving office, Bush has helped veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars transition back to civilian life through the George W. Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative. The new book features 66 oil painting portraits of US servicemen and -women he has personally come to know as part of this work, and all of the proceeds go to the initiative.

“I know each person I painted,” Bush told NBC’s Today show. “I was thinking about their backgrounds, their service, their injuries and their recovery.” On the artistic side, he counts Lucian Freud, Wayne Thiebaud, Jamie Wyeth, Ray Turner, Fairfield Porter, and Joaquín Sorolla as influences.

Portraits of Courage, which dropped February 27, was number one among hardcover nonfiction books according to the latest best seller list from Publishers Weekly, released March 9. It’s also number two on the overall list, coming in just behind the beloved Dr. Seuss classic Green Eggs and Ham. (The children’s author also had the third and fourth best-selling titles of the week with One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and The Cat in the Hat.)

Timed to the book’s release, Bush is exhibiting the original paintings, plus a four-panel mural, at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. The book and the show’s shared title is a reference to former President John F. Kennedy’s 1955 book, Profiles in Courage, featuring short biographies of US senators.

“Portraits of Courage” is on view at the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University, at 2943 SMU Boulevard, Dallas, March 2–October 1, 2017.